World dateline briefs

Belgium: Judge killed

BRUSSELS — A lone gunman killed a magistrate and a clerk in a Brussels courthouse Thursday, then fled on foot, setting off a manhunt in the center of the Belgian capital.

Officials were unable to give any details about the gunman's identity or a possible motive for the slayings, which took place at 11:23 a.m. as the gunman attended a morning hearing. Six hours after the killings, the gunman remained at large.

Brazil: 1M Christians rally

SAO PAULO — At least 1 million evangelical Christians rallied in Sao Paulo on Thursday for the annual "March for Jesus," an event that unites the faithful from hundreds of Protestant churches in the world's largest Roman Catholic country.

Now in its 18th year, the march is organized by the Reborn in Christ Church, whose leaders returned to Brazil last year after being imprisoned in the United States for not declaring $56,000 in cash they were carrying on a flight from Sao Paulo to Miami.

Cuba: 'Critical' drought

HAVANA — Cuba is urging people to save water amid what it is calling a "critical" and "tense" drought that has left reservoirs at 40 percent capacity.

The Communist Party newspaper Granma says that reservoirs nationwide designed to hold 9 billion cubic meters of water have just 3.6 billion cubic meters. Granma said Thursday the current drought began in November 2008 and that 2009 was the fourth-driest year since 1900.

Egypt: al-Qaida message

CAIRO — A senior member of an al-Qaida offshoot in Yemen called on supporters in an audio recording posted Thursday to kidnap Christians and members of the Saudi royal family to avenge the arrest of a female preacher linked to the terrorist group.

In a 17-minute message, the deputy chief of al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula, Said al-Shihri, said such hostages could be used as a bargaining chip to secure the release of the terrorist group's supporters currently held in jails across the region.

Germany: Wulff tapped

BERLIN — Germany's government on Thursday nominated the 50-year-old governor of Lower Saxony for the nation's presidency, days after the previous head of state's surprise resignation.